


Mnemosyne

by violetnyte



Series: Lethe [1]
Category: Starfighter (Comic), Starfighter Eclipse
Genre: Alley Sex, Alternate Universe - College/University, Beach/Summer Fun, Choose Your Own Adventure, Classroom Sex, Fluff, Gratuitous Smut, M/M, Mars Colony Life, Using Appropriate Amounts of Lube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 18:12:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 56
Words: 15,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19431400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetnyte/pseuds/violetnyte
Summary: Ethan Hallewell, a college student at the prestigious Martian Scientific Institute, has no interest in the Alliance and has never heard of the Colterons, but a planned evening out could rekindled an old flame or spark into entirely new opportunities depending on the choices he makes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a true Choose Your Own Adventure fic! Don't try to read the chapters in sequential order as the story will not make sense. You will need to navigate between the chapters depending on the choices you make.
> 
> Much thanks to prisma for cheerleading me through this brutal speed-run endeavor <3
> 
> PLEASE NOTE: As this is a theme week fic, there are some chapters that may not yet be posted and are thus unavailable at this time.

Ethan stood along the platform waiting for the twenty tick tram feeling impatient and frustrated, which was a common enough feeling when texting with his boyfriend. Ethan never thought it possible to reserve such singular hate for a particular letter, but each loathsome  _ k _ sent from Sacha only infuriated him further. 

Garbled Russian nonsense bled out of the speaker above Ethan’s head with a rusty groan. He supposed it didn’t matter what time they agreed to meet when the tram was always late. Ethan sighed down at his phone and two message notifications waiting for him. 

* * *

**Read text from Sacha, go to CHAPTER 31**

**Read text from unknown number, go to CHAPTER 17**


	2. Chapter 2

“Fine,” Ethan sighed. Maybe playing along with Jules’ little amusements would get this over with faster. He accepted the glass of wine and took a cautious sip. The floral aroma and delicate notes of honey and citrus hit him at once. It was exceptionally good wine, of obvious high quality and great expense. 

“Good, isn’t it?” An enigmatic smile spread over Jules’ face. “As I recall, you preferred white wine. You must be starved for the taste of finer things.”

Pinpricks of discomfort bloomed across the back of Ethan’s neck, as if he were being watched. Yet they were alone in the room, and the feeling was no more than the slow-dawning horror that Jules was attempting to flirt with him. “You do have my tap-tech charger, right?”

“Yes, of course.” Jules waved a vague dismissal. “Goodness, but are you impatient. If you simply must insist, then I have no choice.” He came forward, quite close, and brushed a hand along Ethan’s arm as he passed. “This way, darling. I’ve put it in the study along with the rest of your things. Whatever you don’t take I’ll toss in the trash.”

* * *

**Follow Jules, go to CHAPTER 27**

**Forget the tap-tech charger and leave, go to CHAPTER 54**


	4. Chapter 4

Ethan turned back. “Professor?”

Keeler still stood in the same place. “Yes, Mr. Hallewell?”

Ethan crossed to where Keeler stood. “I’ll do it,” he said. “I’ll be your T.A.”

Keeler watched him with that same hinted smile. Ethan swallowed his doubt and nerves. He realized what the hair-raising feeling was trying to warn him of, what that enigmatic smile meant. He’d spent too long in the company of colonists lately. He forgot the proprieties of Earth and all the convoluted mechanisms that obscured such a simple thing as this. 

Ethan focused his gaze on the shape of Keeler’s smile. “Nothing would please me more.”

As he expected, Keeler drew in a soft anticipatory breath. “Nothing?” he asked. 

Ethan stepped closer. He set a light hand on Keeler’s arm. “Well, perhaps I can think of one thing that might.”

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 22**


	5. Chapter 5

Ethan braced himself with resolve to see all his worst impulses to conclusion. There was a reason he’d come here tonight, same reason that drove him here in the first place a month ago. He was sick of polite discussion, disgusted with political banter and academic debate. He wanted the excitement and danger that Sacha’s lean, hungry gaze promised. 

“Let’s dance,” Ethan suggested. As he slid from the booth, Ethan gently pulled at Sacha’s arm. “Dance with me.”

Sacha favored him with a wolfish grin. “Now you’re talking.”

* * *

**Dance with Sacha, go to CHAPTER 36**


	6. Chapter 6

Ethan squeezed through to reach Sacha’s side. Nothing but friction and rhythm separated the two of them, Sacha and his quiet friend, they were squeezed close and moving together in time with the music. 

“Excuse me!” he shouted. Ethan gripped Aleks by the shoulder and yanked. The young man stumbled back from Sacha enough for Ethan to squeeze into his place. Ethan wanted to give Sacha a piece of his mind, demand to know just what he thought he was doing, but the music blasted out everything shy of lip-reading. Besides which, strangers and friends alike around them were dancing just the same, just as intimately. 

Sacha’s arms wrapped around him and pulled Ethan in close. For a brief moment he considered resisting, but the gleam of Sacha’s smile softened his resolve. 

* * *

**Dance with Sacha, go to CHAPTER 36**

**Reject Sacha, go to CHAPTER 61**


	7. Chapter 7

Ethan looked to Sacha with a coy smile. “What would you suggest instead?”

“Oh, I can think of a couple things.” Sacha flashed him a feral grin. His hand slid along Ethan’s thigh. 

The hot around them felt hot and thick, uncomfortable against Ethan’s face and neck. He shrugged free of his coat and let it drape forgotten across the booth seat. 

“Don’t mind us. We’ll be leaving.” Afon hustled Aleks out the other side of the booth. The two young men escaped into the crowd. 

Sacha pulled Ethan closer into him. “Come outside with me,” he whispered, husky-voiced in ways that shivered over Ethan’s spine. 

* * *

**Head outside with Sacha, go to CHAPTER 16**

**Refuse, go to CHAPTER 32**


	8. Chapter 8

Ethan turned a smile on Afon. “So, do you work with Sacha?”

“Mmh!” Afon nodded. “Waste reclamation might not be fancy work, but it pays nice. And I’m learning a lot about urban repurposing.” Afon sat forward and reached a hand out to pluck at the fuzzy hood of Ethan’s coat. “D’you know matryoshka empties are turned into pleather, faux fur, and ships hulls? And salvaged ship hulls are turned into matryoshka bottles for filling.” He smiled, bright and cheery. “It’s a circle of usefulness.”

“I had no idea,” Ethan said.

“I suppose other facilities might turn tossed out clothes into matryoshka bottles. Ours does mostly industrial processing.”

Sacha gave Ethan’s thigh a light squeeze as he leaned in close. “Enough about old shit becoming sparkling new shit. This one’ll talk your ear off if you let him.”

* * *

**Keep talking to Afon, go to CHAPTER 53**

**Pay attention to Sacha, go to CHAPTER 7**


	9. Chapter 9

“No, thank you,” said Ethan. “I don’t want any wine.”

“Suit yourself.” Jules set the second glass back on the swirling inlay table top. “Are you still obsessed with that whole net zero initiative or whatever other nonsense? You know that’s just propaganda to keep the colonists satisfied with their thrice-recycled garbage and disgusting fungal brew.”

Heat flushed through Ethan. “It’s not nonsense. Imported luxuries occupy cargo spacing and consume fuel that could be better spent delivering raw materials. There’s food shortages happening at Lagrange two right now, you know.”

Jules rolled his eyes with dramatic precision. “You’re insufferably idealistic, Ethan. What am I supposed to do, cry myself to sleep at night? Waste away in my bed tormented by the knowledge a few filthy space orphans could eat if only I hadn’t ordered a crate of imported fine wine and cheese? Real cheese, mind you, made from actual cows. Not what hideous reconstituted algae farts they call cheese here.”

Arguing with Jules was getting him no closer to grabbing the tap-tech charger and leaving. Ethan drew in a slow, deep breath and released it with equally measured control. “You could at least try to adapt your lifestyle. This isn’t Earth.”

“A fact I am intimately and tragically aware of,” Jules said crisply. He watched Ethan over the crystalline rim of the wine glass. “Unlike you, I didn’t beg and plead to be sent to this wretched red rock. This study abroad ‘opportunity’ was foist upon me and cannot be over soon enough.”

“As you’ve said,” sighed Ethan. “Now, where my tap-tech charger? I don’t want to stand here arguing with you all night.”

Jules gestured vaguely, a foppish wave midway between pointing and dismissal. “I put it in the study. On the desk, along with a few other things of yours I found while cleaning. Whatever you don’t take is going in the trash.”

“Thanks.” Ethan had feared he wouldn’t get a straightforward answer from Jules. He remembered the layout of the home well enough. Despite its appearance of grand splendor, the overall floor plan was rather small and compact. It was all for show, an illusion of grandeur and luxury in miniature. 

On his way down the hallway toward the study, Ethan passed the open door leading to Jules’ bedroom. The large canopied bed within caught his eye. Lying atop the rumpled covers was a suspiciously familiar blue and white jacket, something else supposedly lost and fervently denied by Jules as having been found. 

* * *

**Examine the jacket, go to CHAPTER 15**

**Continue to the study, go to CHAPTER 27**


	10. Chapter 10

“Me,” Ethan said. He crawled to the head of the bed and began shoving decorative throw pillows to the floor. Behind him he heard Jules snap open the cap on the lubricant. Ethan claimed one pillow to clutch under his chin as he positioned on the bed, elbows and knees, legs spread and rump raised. 

Phobos settled in behind him and trailed his fingertips lightly over Ethan’s back. “My favorite view,” he teased. His hand patted Ethan’s bottom several times as he laughed, high-tinkling amusement like a champagne toast. 

Ethan turned his head some. “Be nice,” he warned. “Or it’ll be my turn instead.”

“Ooho. I’m scared.” Jules laughed and dribbled a plentiful amount of lube over his fingers. “Relax, Ethan. I’ll treat you so nice you’ll never want to leave my bed ever again.”

“Somehow I doubt that -- oh!” Ethan sucked his breath as the cool sensation of the lube slicked over him. 

Jules hummed softly as he massaged Ethan’s ass with one hand and stroked a finger over him with the other. “Relax, darling.” He purred the gentle command with a ready sultriness. “Just relax.”

Ethan set his cheek into the pillow and closed his eyes for a moment. His fingers kneaded at the cushioned fabric as he breathed deep and easy. The last time he’d done this hadn’t been with Jules, and there hadn’t been quite so much reverent worship involved in the prep work. It’d been messy, and hasty, raw lustful energy and powerful displays of passion. Jules, in comparison, was coolly collected and confident as he stroked and caressed the most intimate areas of Ethan’s body. 

“That’s it,” Jules murmured. “Just like that.” His motions paused for a moment. Ethan heard the open and close of the tube cap, and Jules’ fingers were slicker than ever as they returned to their careful ministrations. He slipped one finger inside and then the other, alternating between them in a gentle stretching rhythm. 

“How’s that feel?” Jules asked. 

“Feels, ah! Good,” Ethan gasped. “So good.”

“Mmhm.” Jules hummed with preening satisfaction and picked up the pace slightly. His lips fell against Ethan’s back and shoulder. He nibbled a little on Ethan’s earlobe before whispering, “You feel good, too.”

“Ah!” Ethan shifted his knees further apart. “Jules….” he groaned. His breath broke into soft anticipatory panting. “I’m ready, Jules. Now, please.”

Jules leaned back from him with a soft, haughty laugh. “Since you’ve asked so nicely.” He pulled his hands away. 

Ethan turned to see Jules pouring a steady trickle of lubricant over his erection to slicken it. “Jules,” he breathed. 

Jules took Ethan by the hip and pulled their bodies together, grinding a lube-slick cock over his ass for several mock-thrusts. “What is it, love? What do you need?” He asked so sweetly, so infuriatingly attentive that it carried a wicked undertone of teasing. 

Ethan gripped the pillow until his knuckles turned white. “You. I need you, Jules. I need you to fuck me.”

“With pleasure,” Jules purred. He lined things up and pressed forward, slow and controlled, smooth and slick. The motion shuddered through Ethan and drew a long moan from his lips. 

Jules waited patiently before pushing in further. Once he sensed Ethan had fully adjusted, Jules began building a back-and-forth rhythm. He kept hold of Ethan’s hips with both hands as he drove into him over and over. 

“Aah…” Ethan licked his lips to keep from drooling with pleasure. “Ahh, Jules…”

“Oh, yes. Yes, yes.” Jules picked up the pace. His thrusts rocked Ethan against the bed with repeated firm insistence. “Oh, yes! Fuck, yes! Ethan!” 

Ethan’s dazed, near-drooling moans sharpened as Jules took hold of his cock in a lube-slicked hand. “Ahh!” His hips stuttered and jerked in a silent plea, and Jules obliged him. Jules pumped Ethan’s cock with the same steady insistence as he fucked him, until Ethan was all but sobbing from the twinned sources of ecstasy. 

“I -- oh! Ohhh!” His thighs trembled and shook, sweat beaded along his shoulder and back, between his legs, he was hot all over with tight desperation. Ethan bucked helplessly into Jules’ hand with a long, drawn-out moan. His load shot into the sheets as Jules pulled and pushed it from him with steady insistence. 

A sensation of warmth filled him as Jules came as well. Orgasm caused a stuttering break in his thrusts, and Jules whimpered softly as he folded over Ethan in the moment of release. He shuddered and pumped with growing weakness. Ethan felt the hard pulsing throb of Jules’ cock slow and fade. His motions became molten, melted, lazy and breathless. 

They rested like that for a moment before Jules shifted off him and collapsed to the side. Ethan’s aching thigh muscles quivered as he stretched into the bed. He closed his eyes while he caught his breath and waited for the lingering waves of pleasure to fade. Ethan was barely conscious of Jules sliding up next to him at first, but then he shifted to accommodate. 

Jules’ breath tickled over his neck. “Stay,” he whispered. 

Ethan opened his eyes but said nothing. He stared at the gauzy pink-and-white canopy overhead. 

Jules traced a light touch over Ethan’s chest, his fingertips swirling and curving an absent pattern. “Just for tonight. Stay with me.”

* * *

**Stay with Jules, go to CHAPTER 52**

**Leave, go to CHAPTER 57**


	11. Chapter 11

Ethan closed his eyes briefly as Sacha’s lips touched his. All around them speakers pumped anarcho airpunk into the room with a driving rhythm that beat into his ribs and heart. Ethan’s lips parted to admit the tastes of Sacha, searing cold and tarnished smoke. He gripped a hand into the warm, worn pleather of Sacha’s jacket as they kissed. 

If not for the crowd surrounding them, Ethan might tear the jacket from Sacha’s shoulders. Desire shuddered through him and drew a soft gasp from his lips. It’d only been a few weeks ago that he met this dark, wild colonial. Ethan still felt this all might be a dream. 

Sacha kissed lightly at Ethan’s neck, and then again, rougher, nipping at the skin. “Come dance with me, sweetheart.” He leaned close for another deep, searing kiss. 

* * *

**Dance with Sacha, go to CHAPTER 51**

**Stay at the table for drinks, go to CHAPTER 55**


	12. Chapter 12

Ethan studied the quieter of Sacha’s two friends. “Your name’s Aleks, right?”

Seemingly startled by the question, the young man took a moment to respond. At last he nodded, short and quick. 

Ethan had to lift his voice into almost a shout to counter the music. “Do you work with Sacha?”

The question seemed to put him on edge, somehow. Aleks nodded, slow and wary.

Sacha wrapped an arm around Ethan’s waist and pulled him in sideways. “You’re wasting breath talking to this one, sweetheart.”

* * *

**Pay attention to Sacha, go to CHAPTER 7**


	13. Chapter 13

The tram swayed to a halt at Krasin station to disgorge another rush of passengers. Ethan joined the flow of people headed up the autolift to the surface level transit hub. Typical for his luck that evening, the APM departed just as Ethan reached the street exit. Rather than wait for the next mover, Ethan set off walking. 

Narrow shop front crowded in close beneath the glowing neon signage in a smattering of Cyrillic and English mixed. The further Ethan walked from the station, the fewer signs showed any English at all. Passerby watched him sideways and marked him as a stranger, someone who obviously did not belong in their res sector. Ethan pulled the faux fur hood over his head to help conceal the bright, pale beacon of his hair and face. 

Faint vibrations of music reverberated from the bulky iron handle to the regularly. The noise grew deafening as Ethan pulled open the poster-covered door. A short hallway descended into the riotous din of smoke and music. Anchoring the hallway was the bouncer, hand out and ready to receive Ethan’s identity pass. The man took a sweat-inducing amount of time studying the hologram age mark before handing it back to Ethan and letting him through. 

Regularly patrons clustered around the length of bar lining one wall. Their numbers stretched thin across the tabled section in the center before accumulating thickly once more in front of a small raised stage where a synth turntablist formed the source of the cacophony. 

After his eyes adjusted to the shadowed space inside the reg, Ethan spotted his boyfriend lounged at one of the tables. Seated beside him were two dark-haired young men, clearly just as colonial as Sacha. Ethan dodged through the crowd to reach the table. 

“Oi, there you are.” Sacha flicked together a sharp-edged grin and jabbed the small, lean shadow seated beside him. “Get over, ya lout.”

Ethan slipped into the table’s curved booth seating. Scents of smoke and the acrid tang of cheap vodka clung to Sach as he leaned close to Ethan for a kiss. 

* * *

**Kiss Sacha, go to CHAPTER 11**

**Turn your cheek to refuse the kiss, go to CHAPTER 55**


	14. Chapter 14

“You,” Ethan said. He took the tube from Jules and flipped open the cap. He dribbled plentiful amounts of the slippery gel over his fingers and rubbed them together briefly to help warm the cool liquid. 

Jules tossed decorative throw pillows and bolsters to the floor with haphazard haste. He stretched luxuriously into the newly vacant space and lifted his knees in obvious invitation. He made an enticing display, pale arms stretched over his head and legs spread. 

Ethan shifted nearer to kneel between Jules’ legs and touched lightly at his hip in an idle caress with his clean hand. The other he traced and caressed to begin slowly slicking Jules. He pressed and swirled without penetrating with alternating degrees of pressure. 

“Oohh,” Jules moaned. His legs spread wider as he squirmed closer. “Quit teasing and get on with it already. “

“Don’t boss me. I’ll take my time if I want.” Ethan pulled his hand away to reapply more lube before resuming the same motions, only slower with this time, with the added torment of bringing Jules’ cock and balls into the whispered glide of his touch.

“Fuck you.” Jules kicked lightly at Ethan’s side. “Switch me, then. I’ll show you how it’s done, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“I remember,” Ethan snapped. He pushed in a finger and then withdrew it. 

“Fuck,” Jules gasped. He gathered a fistful of the bedsheets and arched beautifully, legs trembling, as Ethan repeated the gesture with a second finger added. 

Ethan leaned forward and sought Jules’ lips with his own. Jules kissed him back with eager hunger, all nipping teeth and exploring tongue. Jules bore the weight easily as Ethan bent him nearly double to keep kissing him even while his fingers stayed busy. 

Ethan broke away to reapply lubricant. He slicked his straining erection with a few pumps of his hand and swirled a plentiful amount over the head of his cock straight from the bottle. 

“Now,” Jules moaned. He hooked his ankles into Ethan’s side and tugged. “Fuck me, damn you.”

Ethan pushed at the back of Jules’ knee with one hand as he got into position. Sliding his cock forward into the slick, tight embrace sent shivers of pleasure over his spine and threatened his restraint. He longed to push forward and pound all the bossy arrogance right out of Jules, but Ethan kept a tight reign over those urges. He moved by millimeters and was rewarded by a lengthy, throaty moan from the man beneath him. 

“F-f-f-fuck you!” Jules shot out a hand to search and clench uselessly for a pillow, but he’d tossed almost all of them to the floor. The desperate flail and crawl of his fingers closed over the lace-trimmed corner of one pillow that survive the purge, and Jules swung it around to thwap Ethan in the shoulder.

Ethan huffed a soft laugh. He pulled back nearly all the way and then slid forward again with the same slow torture. Lust and desire choked him so that speaking was difficult, but he managed it well enough. “Maybe if you, mmm… Ask nice.” 

Jules scrunched his eyes shut with a whine. His jaw clenched, his fingers grabbed a white-knuckle strain on the bed sheets, all of him tensed and flexed beneath Ethan with raw desperation. Ethan bit his lip and continued to roll his hips with aching restraint. 

A whine built behind the tight press of Jules’ lips. He twitched and thrashed. “Fine! Oh, fuck you, fine, I -- Ah!”

Ethan had teased him with a brief hard push. It broke Jules out of angry defiance and in to sweet honey-tongued gasps. “Please! Oh, please! Please!” The pleading rhythm continued as Ethan shifted for better leverage and began quick, steady thrusts in and out of all that tight, slick heat. 

“Please!” Jules wailed. “Ethan, yes, please! Oh! Oh, yes! Yes! Harder, yes!” Ethan slowed some, and Jules’ cries sharpened. “No, please! Please, I -- ah!”

Ethan surged forward to capture those sweet cries with the hungry claim of his lips. Jules circled his hands around the back of Ethan’s neck and clung there even as they parted. The motions between them now allowed for nothing else but hot, heavy breaths and the smack of flesh-on-flesh rhythm. Pleasure and pressure built within him to a breaking point. 

“Jules!” Ethan shuddered in the throes of release. Everything became hotter, slicker, and his hips still pumped as he filled Jules. When finished he leaned back to catch his breath. He kissed at one of Jules’ trembling calves and eased his grip some to give the man’s legs a rest. 

“Mmn...” Jules tossed his head over the bedding as he poked and prodded Ethan with his toes. “Ethan,” he whined. “Ethan, please.”

Ethan was too dazed and spent for more than an affirming nod. He took Jules’ neglected cock in hand and began to rub and fondle him to a full, straining erection. It didn’t take long for Jules to begin squirming and thrashing all over again as Ethan brought him to climax.

Afterward they both sprawled on the bed, too spent and exhausted to do more than tip their heads close together and breathe. Jules recovered first and began to walk and tease his fingertips along Ethan’s arm. Ethan shifted to get that arm around Jules, and they lay there for several minutes more in satisfied silence. 

Jules turned his head to lightly kiss Ethan’s shoulder. He kept his face concealed there and murmured, “Stay.” 

Ethan stiffened some but said nothing. He couldn’t, he could scarcely breathe, much less speak. 

Jules nuzzled at Ethan’s arm with his nose. He kissed the sweat-damp skin once more. “Stay with me, Ethan. Just for tonight. Stay.”

* * *

**Stay with Jules, go to CHAPTER 52**

**Leave, go to CHAPTER 57**


	15. Chapter 15

Ethan advanced into the bedroom and snatched up the jacket to verify it was, in fact, his and not simply a disturbing duplicate. He’d lost one of the buttons off the cuff and had it resewn at the cleaners, and they’d used the wrong color thread for the job. What it was doing in Jules’ bed he couldn’t say. Last he’d seen it had been the museum gala reception, one of his final dates with Jules before the breakup. 

“This isn’t the study. Are you lost, darling?”

Ethan turned to find Jules posed in the doorway, wine glass at hand. He held out the jacket. “This is mine. Why’s it here?”

Jules pointedly arched one perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Is it yours?”

“Yes, and you know it,” Ethan snapped. He could see right through the poorly feigned ignorance. “Just what kind of game are you playing at here, Jules?”

Jules set the wine glass on the dresser as he stalked into the room. Ethan squared his shoulders as Jules came close, much too close. He refused to give ground or flinch. Faint fragrances of luxury clung to Jules; the expensive shampoo he used, lotions and skin creams, subtle notes of a sweet, floral cologne over it all. The combination of scents brought back a myriad of memories, of long afternoons spent talking and debating, window-shopping, sampling the latest import goods, of long nights spent whispering and caressing, feverish races of stamina and endurance. Days spent in pleasure-seeking hedonism, raw and unapologetic. 

Jules smiled, close-lipped and coy, striking blue-green eyes fixed on Ethan. “Who said anything about this being a game?”

Ethan stared at that smile, the pink-tinged shape of it, the tantalizing closeness. Jules set a hand on his arm, slender and delicate fingers running along the rough texture of Ethan’s chambray coat. Only inches separated them now. 

* * *

**Kiss Jules, go to CHAPTER 48**

**Reject Jules, go to CHAPTER 45**


	16. Chapter 16

Ethan let Sacha pull him by the hand through the crowd. They squeezed through the narrow hall leading to the bathrooms and then out the back exit to a narrow, dingy alley. Grime and shadows coated everything, and only Sacha’s presence kept Ethan from feeling terrified. This was exactly the side of colonial life he avidly avoided. 

Sacha backed him up against the wall beside a waste recycler. His hands roamed appreciatively underneath Ethan’s coat. “Hey, sweetheart.” He grinned and leaned in for a kiss. 

Ethan gripped the waistband of Sacha’s jeans and pulled him close, their hips snug together, as he returned the kiss. The heady rush of desire pulsing through him reverberated into the brick at his back, or perhaps that was the lingering echo of the music. Regardless, Ethan didn’t want to think about anything other than the wildness of the moment, the feral hunger in Sacha’s gaze. 

It was a different kind of dancing, a different kind of motion. Ethan tossed his inhibitions to the wind as he bumped and rubbed against Sacha in a sensual tangle. A week ago, would he ever have thought himself capable of this?

“Ah!” Ethan gasped as Sacha’s teeth raked his neck over the fast thrum of him pulse. “Ah… mmmn!” 

His gasps turned to the most terribly lewd moans as Sacha ground his palm into the straining erection contained in Ethan’s pants. Sacha grinned, cock-sure and gleaming. He made quick work of the button and zipper clasping the corduroy closed. 

“Wait,” Ethan thought to object. “Wait, not here --”

“Relax, princess.” Sacha chuckled and pushed the thin undershorts Ethan wore out of the way. “No one’s gonna see.”

Ethan didn’t feel too certain about that, but Sacha had hold of his cock and that collapsed his flimsy objections to public indecency. That first night they’d met, they’d swapped hasty handjobs in one of the bathroom stalls. This, in comparison, seemed down right intimate. 

Ethan reached to unclasp Sacha’s jeans in turn, and their previous driving rhythm resumed only with more fiction, more heat. Sacha nipped at his lips, kissed at his neck, and then sank to his knees right there on the filthy alley floor. Ethan straddled his legs apart some. His chest heaved with anticipation as Sacha nuzzled at his cock with a lean, quiet growl. His tongue flicked out, fluttering, teasing, until Ethan was pressed back against the brick and whimpering. 

“Ah, Sacha…!” Ethan covered his face with a hand and bit at his knuckles to stifle sharper cries. 

Sacha lightly grazed Ethan’s cock with his teeth before taking nearly all of it into his mouth. He worked the base of Ethan’s cock with one hand while jacking himself with the other. Ethan closed his eyes briefly with a fluttering moan before fixing his attention on the sultry sight of Sacha kneeling there, mouth full and hands busy.

The teal highlights streaking his hair gleamed greenish in the sickly yellow lighting, and Ethan found himself mesmerized watching the bobbing back and forth of it. He dared to take his hand off Sacha’s shoulder and stroked instead at Sacha’s hair. It had a coarse texture, raw and wild just like the rest of him, nothing at all like the silk-fine softness he was accustomed to feeling. 

Ethan curled his fingers through Sacha’s hair to coax him along even though he certainly didn’t need any coaxing. The exquisite enthusiasm of his eager lips and pressing tongue, the way he teased at taking in just a little too much on occasion before pulling back to slather attention to the sensitive tip, it all drove Ethan rapidly toward orgasm. 

“Ah, I -- I’m...!” The motion of Ethan’s fingers became frantic. He patted and tugged, desperate to let Sacha just what to expect. 

Sacha showed no signs of stopping, no hesitation. Ethan clenched a handful of Sacha’s hair with a short, strangled shout. Release throbbed over his body in a toe-to-head wave. Sacha began swallowing with wanton ease as Ethan shot climax directly into his mouth. 

Afterward it was all Ethan could do to keep his feet. He leaned heavy into the wall and panted to catch his breath in a lust-satiated daze. Sacha kept looking up at him with the same steady intensity, and somehow that connected stare felt more powerfully intimate than sex itself. 

Ethan cupped a hand to Sacha’s cheek. He kept his hand there even as Sacha’s expression shuddered, his whole body shivered. White ropes of come shot into the alley pavement as Sacha pumped himself to completion. 

Right as Sacha was finishing, the alley door banged open to Ethan’s left. Two dark-haired young men spilled through in a knotted difficulty of hands-heavy making out. Ethan jumped as if scalded and nearly kicked Sacha in his haste at getting his pants back into place. 

“Oy!” Sacha shouted. “Fuck off!”

As one of the men turned, Ethan realized with a jolt that it was Sacha’s two friends, Afon and Aleks. The smaller one, Aleks, had both hands down the front of Afon’s pants. He gave Sacha a bland look in response before pointedly ignoring him. The curling and coaxing gestures his hands made over Afon’s crotch made their intentions coming to the alley abundantly clear. 

“Let’s go,” Ethan hushed. “Sacha, let’s leave.”

“Hold on there, sweetheart.” Sacha sneered and got to his feet. He shucked his pants back on to his hips with lazy disregard for the way his sated cock hung free of his underwear. “The fun’s just beginning.” 

* * *

**Leave with Sacha, go to CHAPTER 60**

**Stay, go to CHAPTER 26**


	17. Chapter 17

_ Really mature of you to block my number, Ethan.  _

Ethan stared down at the message on his phone. Besides robomarketers and skiffers, he’d only ever blocked one number. As improbable as it seemed, his ex had managed a way around the setback of a simple number block. 

_ What do you want? _

_ I found the charger plug to your tap-tech. I’ve been messaging the blocked abyss for two weeks trying to return it to you.  _

_ You told me you looked for it and couldn’t find it.  _

_ Well I looked again. Do you want the damn thing or not? _

_ Yes, I can come get it tomorrow.  _

_ I’m busy tomorrow. Come get it tonight or I’m tossing it in the trash.  _

Light flashed over the platform accompanied by the grinding screech of the tram. Ethan had been loathed to replace the tap-tech charger in the first place, so hearing it’d been found slightly made up for the inconvenience of having to speak to Jules about it. 

Sacha might be patient enough with his  _ k _ to wait, if Ethan wanted to risk it. Then again, he could always call Jules on the bluff or replace the charger if it did get tossed, rather than fold to his ex’s demands. 

__

* * *

**Board the tram to meet Sacha for drinks, go to CHAPTER 13**

**Leave the station to meet with Jules, go to CHAPTER 42**


	18. Chapter 18

Ethan edged up on the professor and T.A. He didn’t want to interrupt the quiet one-sided conversation, but equally was he anxious about getting this meeting over and done. “Excuse me, professor…?”

Keeler turned. His mouth worked into a slight frown. “Yes…? Oh, are you Mr. Hallewell?”

Ethan nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Keeler’s expression softened into a smile. “Do you have a moment to meet with me?”

“Yes, sir.” Ethan nodded again, and the professor dismissed the T.A They were the only ones in the lecture hall now, he noted. 

“I was much impressed with your exam work,” Keeler said. “It reminded me of a student I had in the previous term, so I pulled his paper to compare.”

Ethan’s stomach roiled unsteadily. Even though he hadn’t cheated on a single assignment or test in his entire life, he felt absurdly guilty as if he had just been caught doing so.

“It turns out that student was you,” Keeler said. “You took my Introduction to Manufacturing Standards, didn’t you?”

“Um,” Ethan replied. “Er. Yeah. I mean, yes. I did.”

Keeler regarded him for a moment. “Have you considered taking my Advanced Sustainability Practicum next term?”

Slowly Ethan nodded. “I had, yes.”

The smile broadened across Keeler’s face. “I was hoping that would be the case. Your work so far has been excellent. You’re clearly a bright young man.”

A pleasurable blush squirmed heat across his face. “Th-thank you, sir.”

Keeler’s head tilted slightly to one side. He seemed to get closer without actually moving. Ethan was struck with an odd sensation, like a spider walking across the back of his neck. He reached a hand up but only felt smooth skin and fine hairs above his shirt collar. 

“Bazin is graduating at the end of this term. I’ll be in need of an assistant. Are you interested in the position?” Keeler asked. 

* * *

**Agree, go to CHAPTER 21**

**Refuse, go to CHAPTER 56**


	19. Chapter 19

“I just want the tap-tech charger, Jules.”

Jules lifted the wine flute to his lips and took a prim, measured sip. “Do you?”

Ethan pressed his molars together to restrain what he really wanted to say to the universe’s most aggravating ex-boyfriend. “Give me the charger, and I’ll be on my way.” 

“I went through the trouble of activating a new number just to get around you blocking me, and this is the thanks I get for my perseverance?” Jules lightly clacked his tongue against his teeth.

Suddenly all the previously infuriating replies of  _ k _ were a blessing. “Thanks,” Ethan grit out. He forced a saccharine smile. “I’d really appreciate getting that charger back from you.”

“Mmh.” Jules drained what remained of the wine. “Yes. I imagine you would. Replacing it would cost you, what, ten cabbages? Twenty?” Jules tittered softly and then retreated into the foyer. He left the doors flung open in a somewhat dubious invitation 

* * *

**Forget about the charger and leave, go to CHAPTER 54**

**Go inside Jules’s house, CHAPTER 47**


	21. Chapter 21

“I’ll do it,” he said. “I’ll be your T.A.”

Keeler watched him with that same hinted smile. Ethan swallowed his doubt and nerves. He realized what the hair-raising feeling was trying to warn him of, what that enigmatic smile meant. He’d spent too long in the company of colonists lately. He forgot the proprieties of Earth and all the convoluted mechanisms that obscured such a simple thing as this. 

Ethan focused his gaze on the shape of Keeler’s smile. “Nothing would please me more.”

As he expected, Keeler drew in a soft anticipatory breath. “Nothing?” he asked. 

Ethan stepped closer. He set a light hand on Keeler’s arm. “Well, perhaps I can think of one thing that might.”

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 22**


	22. Chapter 22

“Oh?” Keeler asked quietly. “And, what would that be?” 

For his response, Ethan adjusted his head to the side slightly and leaned forward. Keeler mimicked him, and their lips met in the softest of hesitance. Ethan moved his hand along Keeler’s arm. Delicate muscles tensed beneath his touch as Keeler shifted to cup his hands to either side of Ethan’s face. 

The kiss deepened and lengthened, both of them gaining confidence in affection as it continued. Their hips met, legs tangling together as they moved without an agreed upon destination. Ethan let Keeler steer him toward the professor’s desk. When the edge of the desk hit into the back of thigh, Ethan leaned his weight into it. Keeler straddled over his lap. His hands stroked over Ethan’s chest and teased along his ribs and belly. 

“Let me see you,” Keeler whispered against his lips. His fingers traced lightly over the stiffening bulge in the crotch of Ethan’s pants to make his meaning clear. 

Ethan lifted the hem of his shirt and then unclasped his pants. Keeler assisted in pushing the waistband of Ethan’s underwear out of the way so that his cock and balls were on display. He hummed approvingly as he felt along the half-hard length of the shaft. 

“Stroke yourself.” Keeler’s husky-voiced dulcet tone struck a line between suggestion and command. Slowly Ethan curled a hand over his cock. Heat flushed his face at the bold way Keeler watched him. It didn’t take long at all for his erection to fully stiffen and begin leaking dewy beads of pre-ejaculate. 

Keeler brushed his fingertips over the tightened skin of Ethan’s balls. He gently squeezed one testicle until Ethan couldn’t help but whine a soft objection. Keeler released him with a smile. “Now stop,” he said. 

Ethan drew his lower lip into the gentle bite of his teeth. He brought the rhythmic stroking of his hand to stop as requested. Keeler leaned in to kiss him, and Ethan surged hungrily into the offered affection. He gripped the back of Keeler’s powder-blue button-up shirt. 

The slightly roll of Keeler’s hips offered a hint of friction and pressure, and Ethan moaned into the kiss. Keeler continued to grind against him until Ethan was a panting mess, inarticulate with need and incapable of anything but returning the sloppiest of kisses. 

“Ah, professor…” Ethan braced his weight better against the desk. “Ah, ah…!”

Keeler backed off from him, leaving Ethan shivering and breathless with his erect cock exposed, the smooth pink head glistening with pre-ejaculate. Besides a few wrinkles in his shirt, Keeler looked coolly composed as he surveyed Ethan’s desperate need. Keeler leaned around Ethan to pick a slim brown satchel from beside the desk. He flipped open the main compartment and reached inside. 

“Turn around,” Keeler murmured. “If you would.” He spoke pleasantly, as if suggesting Ethan lead the class in a demonstration. 

“Professor?”

Keeler straightened holding a small tube in his hand. “Turn around, Mr. Hallewell, and bend over.”

The breath left Ethan in a rush. He nodded and did as told, bending over the desk with his weight braced on his arms. Keeler pulled Ethan’s pants down to his ankles and nudged his knees apart. Ethan obliged him in that as well, straddling his legs apart as best he could given the restriction. He leaned forward some, just enough to press the throbbing ache of his teased cock into the smooth surface of the desk. 

Keeler’s hand pressed against the flat of his spine, stilling the half-hearted effort Ethan had been putting into dry-humping the desk. Something told him if he tried to take matters into his own hands, Keeler would stop him there as well. The idea shivered over Ethan’s back and tightened a moan through his chest. 

Behind him he heard the sound of a zipper, soft rustling, the open and close of a plastic cap. A cool, slick touch pressed at him as Keeler’s lubed fingers made contact. Ethan set his forehead into the brace of his arms and breathed through the tight, anticipatory feeling in his chest. Keeler’s slim finger slipped inside easily and began to move, stretching Ethan open with gentle, steady command. 

“Ahh… professor…” Ethan’s thighs shivered under an onslaught of arousal. His erection strained eagerly for the sensations that were being denied to him, even as others overwhelmed him. “Professor Keeler, ah --!” 

The head of Keeler’s cock replaced the coaxing stretch of his fingers just then, and Ethan’s mind went blank. Keeler gripped Ethan’s hips and pushed into him fully. A moan poured from him, long and liquid, as Ethan sagged into the surface of the desk. Exquisite spikes of mingled pain and pleasure shot through him as he adjusted to the invading pressure. 

Keeler withdrew and then slid forward once more, rocking Ethan’s body against the desk with the motion. He moved in and out of Ethan with smooth, controlled momentum. His steady thrusts melted any shred of dignity remaining to Ethan as he moaned and shivered helplessly beneath Keeler. 

“Very good, Mr. Hallewell.” Keeler’s hands massaged his hips and thighs. “Don’t you agree?”

“Nnnm--” Ethan’s first attempt at responding fell from him as incoherent fragments. He panted and swallowed, gathering himself for another try. “Y-yes, professor.”

Keeler braced a hand on the small of Ethan’s back as he shoved into him with a harder, angled thrust. His cock struck gold within Ethan, and electric-hot fervor whipped along his spine. “Ahh!” Ethan cried. His hands twitched and spasmed in a useless clutch. Keeler bore onward, relentless, striking that same tight ball of nerves to draw further outcry from Ethan. 

“Professor!” he shouted. “Ah, Professor Keeler, please…!”

“Come.” Keeler purred the instruction with honeyed grace. “Go on, come.”

Ethan shuddered against the desk. His body strained and struggled to obey. “Touch me!” he gasped. “Professor, I --”

Keeler huffed softly. His cock pushed into Ethan over and over without breaking stride. “Touch yourself.”

Ethan scrambled greedily to comply. Only a few quick strokes were needed to relieve himself. Orgasm shook through him with blindly intensity, and Ethan bucked uncontrollably against the solid surface of the desk as his cock emptied. Dimly he registered the rush of Keeler’s matched climax filling him. 

Afterward Ethan lay dazed, melted and barely upright with only the angle of the desk saving him from collapse. Keeler’s cock withdrew, and excess warmth flowed freely over the inside of Ethan’s thighs. He lacked the energy to move, for the moment, and couldn’t even bring himself to stir with Keeler’s sated cock smeared itself clean against his ass. Quiet sounds indicated Keeler was tucking himself together, securing his pants, even as Ethan sprawled there half-naked and dripping. 

“I’ll see you next week, Mr. Hallewell,” Keeler said, pleasant-toned and polite. He picked up the leather satchel. 

Ethan shakily pushed up from the desk and struggled to remember how parts of his body worked. “Mmhn?”

Keeler smiled. “You are truly an exemplary student.” His gaze lingered for a moment on Ethan’s exposed and thoroughly exploited ass. “Truly.” 

With that Keeler turned and strode from the classroom, leaving Ethan to collect together his mess and make his own hasty departure. Ethan returned straight to his dorm and took a quick shower. His threw his soiled clothes into the laundry and then spent the remainder of his day studying with only Newton for company. 

The iguana watched without judgment from the terrarium, and somehow that quiet acceptance set the tone. By the time Ethan called it quits for the day and settled in to watch a movie, he felt on the overall pretty satisfied with his future academic achievements. He looked forward to further tutelage under Professor Keeler’s expert attention.

* * *

**THE END... _?_**


	23. Chapter 23

Afon didn’t seem bothered by the others abandoning them. He scooted closer to Ethan so as to avoid shouting. “You’re right about resources and stuff. It’s really important, you know? When we were little kids, my sister says there was a terrible food shortage. She caught me trying to eat rocks I was so hungry.”

“Rocks?” Even after two years residing on the colonies, the occasional word or phrase struck him as completely foreign. 

Afon nodded. “I don’t know why I thought they’d be edible.”

Ethan realized the man meant literal rocks from the ground and laughed, a little late and a lot nervous. He’d never gone to bed hungry in his life. The various hardships and scarcities of the colonists had always been an abstract concept to him, something he thought he understood before coming here and seeing it first hand. On Earth they had everything in carefully controlled abundance and strictly limited population centers to ensure it. 

“At least you’d get plenty of iron,” Ethan said. He softened the awkward joke with a smile and was rewarded with Afon’s laughter. 

“You’re from Earth, right?” Afon asked. When Ethan nodded, his amiable expression wrinkled with confusion. “How’d you meet Sacha?”

Ethan turned his head to look over the dark, smoky interior of the regularly. He spotted the teal highlights streaking Sacha’s hair easily enough and felt a glimmer of displeasure at the sight of his boyfriend pressed up close to that quiet friend of his. Plenty of other strangers were pressed up just the same, the whole mass of people on the dance floor grinding and swaying with the fast-driving beats of music. Still, Ethan thought perhaps it prudent to go interrupt, rather than remain on the sidelines. 

* * *

**Answer Afon, go to CHAPTER 50**

**Interrupt Sacha and Aleks, go to CHAPTER 43**


	24. Chapter 24

Ethan left the study in pursuit of Jules, for whatever misguided reason. The smarter choice would have been to collect his things and leave, but when had Ethan ever made the smart choice when it came to relationships?

There was no sign of Jules in the hallway, none either in the hallway bathroom that Ethan only briefly stuck his head into to check. He advanced carefully down the hall toward the front part of the house once more. Along the way, the open door to the bedroom caught his eye. 

Ethan stepped closer for a better look inside the room. Occupying a prominent place in the center of the room was the large canopied bed bedecked in dreamy white and pale pink frills. It looked like nothing so much as a decadent cake and was sinfully soft, as Ethan knew too well. Lying atop the rumpled covers, however, was a suspiciously familiar blue and white jacket, something else supposedly lost and fervently denied by Jules as having been found. 

* * *

**Examine the jacket, go to CHAPTER 38**

**Leave, go to CHAPTER 28**


	25. Chapter 25

“Oh, I … have class tomorrow.” Ethan tore his eyes away from the ramshackle disaster of an apartment building. “Rather early, actually.”

Perhaps something like disappointment curled Sacha’s lips in a bared-teeth grimace. “Class,” he repeated, scoffing. 

“Sorry,” said Ethan. He softened the excuse with a smile and tipped forward to press a kiss to Sacha’s cheek. “Some other time?”

Sacha huffed something caught between agreement and dismissal. He took a handful of Ethan’s ass in hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze followed by a hearty smack. “Get going, then. You’ll want your beauty rest, princess.”

It was somewhat intimidating, the idea of walking back by himself. Ethan steeled his nerves and bid Sacha farewell with another kiss before leaving. As he retraced their steps back to the regularly, Ethan tried not to think about the lurking danger watching him back from dark alleys and shadowed doorways. 

Some of the more naive terran students found themselves lured out of the safe zone immediately surrounding the campus institute, to great misfortune. Every so often those students weren’t seen again, and the exact reason why remained clouded in bureaucratic mystery. 

Ethan arrived home exhausted and ready for bed. He did little more than the essentials to prepare before crawling between the covers. A slight tinny ring in his ears echoed of the night’s vibrant activities and lulled him quickly into sleep. 

* * *

**THE END ... _?_**


	27. Chapter 27

Jules’ study comprised of a sleek white desk and an expansive workstation. The large screen dominating one wall flitted through stock images of Earth landscapes; lush forests, rippling blue streams, snow-capped mountains, deep floral valleys. An immaculately arranged cocktail bar occupied one corner of the room. 

No less orderly was the pile of items heaped on the center of the desk. Ethan went forward and picked up the tap-tech charger off the top of the tidy heap. Beneath it was a folded together white shirt -- not his -- and two slim, silver styluses, which were his. 

Ethan looked up to see Jules in the doorway. “Thanks.” He gestured with the charger cable. “I really didn’t want to have to buy another of these.” 

Jules hummed slightly, acknowledging and dismissing his gratitude with infuriating ease. “Yes, well. I know your father keeps you on such a modest leash.”

A jolt of irritation went through Ethan. He didn’t want to give Jules the satisfaction of a reply, yet he couldn’t let the jab go either.

* * *

**Insult Jules, go to CHAPTER 37**

**Refrain from verbal sparring and leave, go to CHAPTER 39**


	28. Chapter 28

The best choice was for Ethan to leave, to forget all about Jules and block the new number just like he had the old one. There were lectures the next day, essays and assignments that needed his attention. Nothing would be gained by continuing to waste time with his ex. 

On the walk back to the APM stop, Ethan pulled out his phone. It was too late to meet with Sacha for drinks at this point. Even though he knew the response would be a single lazy  _ k,  _ Ethan fired off a text anyway explaining the situation and offering his apologies. By the time he reached the institute campus, the response -- exactly what he expected -- arrived. 

Heavy steps brought Ethan up to his dorm building entrance. He swiped his access card to gain entry and then rode the autolift up to his room’s floor. His particular dorm housed both single and double rooms, and each floor of the building shared two large bathrooms with rows of shower stalls. He’d splurged for the privacy and comfort of a single-set room, one of the few luxuries he afforded himself. 

Ethan checked the water bottle attached to the outside of Newton’s terrarium before taking his toothbrush down the hall to the bathroom. Once the essential prep for sleep was out of the way, Ethan crawled between the covers and lie there for a long time staring at the shadowed ceiling. A heart full of half-formed regrets and missed opportunities kept him awake deep into the night. 

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 59**


	29. Chapter 29

Ethan took hold of the door and pulled it open. He escaped into the hallway as if being pursued, when there was in fact nothing of the sort happening. He couldn’t shake the feeling of something being wrong, of an offer being made and refused without his full understanding of it. Ethan hurried down the steps of the classroom building. Normally he might go to the library after class, or maybe the cafe in the student center. Rather than either of those places, though, Ethan decided to go straight back to his dorm room. There suited the same as anywhere the assignments he needed to complete, and it came with the added benefit he wouldn’t run into anyone he knew beside Newton. 

Ethan spent the rest of the morning sitting at his desk beside the terrarium working through his tap-tech notes and idly compiling an essay. By the time he took a break for lunch, Ethan felt resoundingly calmer about the day’s events. Surely nothing further would come of Professor Keeler’s offer. Maybe next week he’d take a seat near the back, and that would be the end of it. 

“What do you think, Newton? Take a break to watch a movie?” 

Newton slowly shifted along the wooden perch, claw over claw. 

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Ethan agreed. He kicked his feet up on the very corner of the desk and leaned back some to enjoy the rest of his day. 

* * *

**THE END… _?_**


	30. Chapter 30

Ethan downed the shot before he could second-guess his worst impulses. The cheap liquor seared his throat and set him into coughing. Ethan snagged one of the slender blue bottles full of dark stout beer and drank deeply to help ease the burn. 

Sacha clapped him on the back with a laugh. “Easy now, princess. This is no ladies fine tea you’re drinking.”

“It’s --” Ethan coughed again. “It’s fine.” Heat filled his face. He looked at Sacha’s two friends. The smaller, quieter one named Aleks was looking out at the dance floor with idle self-ease, but Afon was watching him with an amiable curiosity. 

* * *

**Talk to Aleks, go to CHAPTER 12**

**Talk to Afon, go to CHAPTER 8**


	31. Chapter 31

_ I was thinking we could meet up for drinks tonight _

_ k _

_ Lecture ends at 5 so I could be home and changed in time for 19 tick? _

_ k _

_ Tram’s always late though. Maybe it’s better to plan for 20 _

_ k _

_ Leaving campus now! Sorry, I got tied up talking with professor Keeler. I hope I didn’t miss the tram.  _

_ k _

_ the tram and waiting for the next one. Are you okay meeting closer to 20 half? _

_ k _

_ Tram’s late, sorry. Do you want to find us a table? _

_ k _

  
  


Ethan hunched the faux fur lined hood of his coat closer to his neck. The tram tunnels were old and drafty, adapted space from the days before terraforming when the whole colony lay buried. The narrow platform where he waited spilled out into dimly lit infinity, dark foreboding chasm in either direction. Sections this deep often intersected old caverns, blown out sections of rock from the earliest days of building cities on the barren red planet. On slender spires lay the steady streaming tracks of the tram. 

Wailing out of darkness came the high-pitched protest of the tram and its perpetually failing brakes. Nine times out of ten the tram overshot the platform leaving the front cars empty and the back filled to capacity. Ethan tucked his phone away rather than risk losing it as he wedged on to the crowded tram. 

* * *

**Ride the tram, go to CHAPTER 13**


	32. Chapter 32

Desire shuddered through Ethan at the wanton suggestion coloring Sacha’s tone. Despite the alluring temptation of whatever that smoke-husky voice suggested, though, he felt a wash of unease. Much as he liked to think of Sacha as his boyfriend, they’d never really settled on anything official. They barely knew each other, in truth. 

Ethan shied from Sacha’s touch. “Oh, I -- perhaps not. Let’s, um.” He let his gaze drift over the smoky interior of the regularly. All around them were friends and lovers, strangers and new acquaintances, all manner and habit of people united under the singular purpose to drink, dance, and wreck social havoc. If he expected a lively evening of philosophical debate and political banter accompanied by fine wine and sultry-coy smiles, he’d come to the wrong place. 

* * *

**Stay with Sacha, go to CHAPTER 5**

**Head for home, go to CHAPTER 61**


	33. Chapter 33

Ethan arrived home feeling exhausted and ready for bed. Some of the terran students preferred, like Jules, to rent or purchase mansions near the campus, but Ethan liked the close proximity of his dorm to all the institute’s amenities. He could walk to the library at any tick of day or night, and all the lecture halls were within a few minutes of him as well. 

The one small luxury he did afford himself, of course, was a single-set arrangement. He couldn’t imagine sharing such close confines with another student. The room barely contained enough floor space for a modest bed and desk arrangement. Built-in shelving and closet space surrounded the vis-screen along one wall. His particular dorm housed both single and double rooms, and each floor of the building shared two large bathrooms with rows of shower stalls.

Despite the lack of a roommate, Ethan did share his dorm space with one other occupant. His other singular luxury, imported with great cost and legal work, watched him with an impassive stare as Ethan entered the room. 

“Hello, Newton.” Ethan peered into the large terrarium hogging the entirety of the meager desk space. A green-scaled face peered back at him. Maybe it did make him a hypocrite to keep a pet like this, but Ethan always felt cheered looking at the iguana’s placid expression.

Later, stretched into bed with the lights off, Ethan spoke into the near darkness. “Goodnight, Newton. See you in the morning.”

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 59**


	34. Chapter 34

Ethan drank a cautious sip off the top of the shot glass. It felt like inhaling fire, stinging burn that laced his throat and set him into coughing. Sacha laughed and thumped his back. “You’ve got to get it down in one go!”

With a grimaced smile, Ethan picked up one of the blue-bottle clad beers. The smiling matryoshka on the label was ubiquitous in colony advertising. “I’ll stick to suds, thanks.”

“Suit yourself,” said Sacha. 

Ethan settled comfortably into the braced rest of Sacha’s arm against his back and drank deeply from the bottle. The malt-thick colonial brew was dark, strong, bitter like hard labor and cheap. Not too many generations ago, some mining camps paid wages partly in bottles of matryoshka. 

“I’ve had enough sitting around drinking,” Sacha declared. 

* * *

**Talk to Sacha, go to CHAPTER 7**


	35. Chapter 35

“Should I get the bouncer?” Ethan looked nervously for any aspect of authority to help in case this got ugly. “Afon, do you know this guy?”

Afon shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before.”

The stranger’s expression collapsed. He let go of Afon’s hand and took another look around at their surroundings. “You haven’t been here long enough to forget me, have you?”

Afon set a kindly guiding hand on the stranger’s arm. “Did you take something? Where are your friends? Let’s get you some water.”

The young man yanked his arm free of Afon’s coddling concern. “You must not be _my_ Helios.” 

Afon flustered together a smile. “I don’t think I am, no, I’m sorry.”

Ethan watched as the young man took several steps back from them. “I have to go,” he said. And then he was gone, just like that, so quickly than Ethan doubted his own eyes. He exchanged a bewildered look with Afon. 

Something about the encounter set a deep sense of unease into him. Ethan leaned in to shout over the music, “Tell Sacha I’ll text him later.”

Afon nodded. He looked just as deeply perplexed as Ethan felt, and that only served to unsettle him further. Ethan slipped from the booth to make a hasty escape. Leaving the regularly, he walked much too fast the whole way back to the transit hub. It wasn’t smart, to look like running prey, but Ethan didn’t care. Let the hungry eyes watch him and wonder why one spooked terran might have been foolish enough to brave the dangerous and unfamiliar waters. 

Ethan arrived home to his dorm and put on every light in the small room. From the desk a wide-set pair of golden eyes watched him from a placid green face. Newtown edged slowly along the large branch set into his terrarium, and gradually Ethan felt calmer just from watching his pet iguana. He felt so calm now it seemed silly he’d ever been scared. 

Of all the possible weird encounters to have, some drugged-out party kid mistaking them for his friends was totally harmless, in retrospect. Ethan prepared for bed and crawled between the covers. A slight tinny ring in his ears echoed of the night’s vibrant activities and lulled him quickly into sleep.

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 59**


	36. Chapter 36

Ethan tossed aside all his worries, all his insecurities, everything that wasn’t the feel of Sacha pressed close and the music beating his limbs into fluid sway. Surely this was what he’d come here tonight seeking, the reason he’d been drawn to Sacha in the first place. Deep down he craved this raw, unrefined outpouring of lasciviousness and lust channeled into music and motion.

One song blended into the next as Ethan let himself get lost in the moment. He rubbed against Sacha, their faces kissably close yet tantalizingly apart. Sacha’s hands rubbed along the seat of his pants, cupping his ass and teasing along the barrier of his waistband. Ethan turned into the embrace. They bumped and rolled together sensually, fitted perfectly like two spoons in a drawer. 

Near to them on the dance floor were two familiar figure, familiar enough that they drew Ethan’s attention. It was Sacha’s two friends, Afon and Aleks, wedged so close together that it was a miracle they could breathe. The two moved as one, deeply entwined and lost in their own world. 

As Ethan watched, their lips met in an impassioned kiss. The dancing slowed and then stopped as Afon pulled Aleks close. At Afon’s coaxing, Aleks hopped up and wrapped his legs around Afon’s waist. The momentum of the crowd separated them before Ethan could see things proceed further, but he could vividly imagine just what might transpire here on the dance floor or later, in private. 

Just then Sacha tugged him around. Ethan went willingly and found himself folded close for a toe-curling, tongue-tangling deep kiss. They parted enough for Sacha to rumble a seductive suggestion. “Let’s go outside, sweetheart.”

* * *

**Head outside with Sacha, go to CHAPTER 16**

**Refuse and leave, go to CHAPTER 61**


	37. Chapter 37

“At least my father didn’t have to bribe anyone for me to be here,” Ethan retorted. 

“Oh, yes. What an admirable achievement,” Jules said dryly. “Truly you’re a paragon of academic perfection. I’m sure a fascinating career awaits you in trash sorting.”

Heat rushed into Ethan’s face. “I am not --”

Jules interrupted with an airy gesture. “You are not, yes, yes. We’re all painfully aware of how much Ethan Hallewell is  _ not.  _ Your disdain couldn’t be more clear.” He gave a delicate sniff, exaggerated as if catching an aroma of something particular noxious. “Take your things and go. I haven’t the taste for this tonight.”

Ethan watched Jules leave with a small twinge of regret. Perhaps he could have handled that better, or perhaps he shouldn’t have come here at all. Regardless, he didn’t have a reason to stick around any longer besides digging himself deeper into regret. 

* * *

**Find Jules and apologize, go to CHAPTER 24**

**Leave, go to CHAPTER 28**


	38. Chapter 38

Ethan advanced into the bedroom and snatched up the jacket to verify it was, in fact, his and not simply a disturbing duplicate. He’d lost one of the buttons off the cuff and had it resewn at the cleaners, and they’d used the wrong color thread for the job. What it was doing in Jules’ bed he couldn’t say. Last he’d seen it had been the museum gala reception, one of his final dates with Jules before the breakup.

“Exit’s the other way, darling.”

Ethan turned to find Jules posed in the doorway. The discovery of the jacket had blotted out all thought of apology. He thrust out the jacket in synch with his accusation. “This is mine. Why’s it here?”

Jules pointedly arched one perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Is it yours?”

“Yes, and you know it,” Ethan snapped. He could see right through the poorly feigned ignorance. “Just what kind of game are you playing at here, Jules?”

Ethan squared his shoulders as Jules came close, much too close. He refused to give ground or flinch. Faint fragrances of luxury clung to Jules; the expensive shampoo he used, lotions and skin creams, subtle notes of a sweet, floral cologne over it all. The combination of scents brought back a myriad of memories, of long afternoons spent talking and debating, window-shopping, sampling the latest import goods, of long nights spent whispering and caressing, feverish races of stamina and endurance. Days spent in pleasure-seeking hedonism, raw and unapologetic. 

Jules smiled, close-lipped and coy, striking blue-green eyes fixed on Ethan. “Who said anything about this being a game?”

Ethan stared at that smile, the pink-tinged shape of it, the tantalizing closeness. Jules set a hand on his arm, slender and delicate fingers running along the rough texture of Ethan’s chambray coat. Only inches separated them now. 

* * *

Kiss Jules, go to CHAPTER 48

Reject Jules, go to CHAPTER 45


	39. Chapter 39

Ethan shrugged off the comment with feigned disinterest. “Regardless, I’m grateful,” he said. “Sorry for blocking your number.”

Jules eyed him with deep suspicion, as if this offering of civility was a nearious trap. “Mmmn… Well, it’s to be expected. I did treat you rather boorishly.” Jules rushed onward through any potential lull for Ethan to confirm or deny the statement. “Gather your things, then, and be on your way. I have other plans for my evening that don’t involve  _ you _ .”

The heavy emphasis of disdain was enough to sour whatever peacemaking efforts Ethan felt like making. He snatched up the charger, put the styluses into his pocket, and took the shirt as well for good measure even though it wasn’t his. Perhaps it would fit him, perhaps he’d donate it. He considered it a small, petty tax for tolerating Jules. 

* * *

**Leave, go to CHAPTER 28**


	41. Chapter 41

Ethan let out a long sigh. “I’m here to see Jules Bonnin de La Bonninière de Beaumont, if you please.”

“Thank you,” the operator intoned. A small mechanical hum accompanied the gate slowly swinging open. Ethan strode inside the exquisitely manicured grounds. A pedestrian footpath twisted around golden ginkgo trees before reaching the glass and gold-inlay portico. 

As Ethan stepped close, the wide white-handled black doors swung open to reveal Jules, waiting with a glass of white wine in hand. The slender-stemmed crystal flute shimmered in the reflection of the house perimeter lights. 

“You’re late,” Jules announced. He wore an immaculate white linen suit with bright yellow piping trim that stood in stark patrician contrast to Ethan’s plain cut winter coat, drab olive corduroys, flannel shirt, and durable work boots. 

Jules glided a supremely judgmental gaze up and down the length of Ethan. “You’ve gone native. How vile.” He stepped back from the open doorway. “Well, come inside then.”

* * *

**Go inside Jules’s house, CHAPTER 47**

**Demand the tap-tech charger so you can leave, CHAPTER 19**


	42. Chapter 42

Ethan emerged from the surface level transit hub to find the APM arriving. He quickened his step to board before the doors could glide shut. The mover lurched forward with typical jerky haste and caused a few of the riders within to stumble. A year ago Ethan would have been among them, being more accustomed to the whisper-smooth APMs on Earth. Out here on the colonies, however, everything from the mover models to the automated control interfaces was outdated, worn out, and perpetually breaking or broken. 

It was only a short ride from the transit hub to the campus proper where Ethan lived in one of the dorms. Jules lived several stops further, deep into the posh res sector bordering the institute. Wide streets provided ample space for hire-cars and set-dets while high-walled gates enclosed and protected the homes. Occasional security patrols cruised by in blue and black striped runners to help further isolate the terran-majority res sector from riff-raff colonials. 

Dressed as he was for meeting Sacha at the regularly, Ethan qualified at first glance as one of those riff-raff. He pushed the faux fur lined hood of his coat out of the way. So long as his blonde hair shown visible in the dotted street lighting, the security patrols wouldn’t stop to question him. 

Ethan reached the gleaming and humming charge-gate blocking access to Jules’ house and pressed on the exterior panel. From the listed reasons for entry request he chose  _ visitor _ . After a long pause the crisp and smooth voice of the operator greeted him. 

“Hello. Please state the reason for your visit.”

“Tell Jules to open the front gate.”

“Thank you. Please state the name of the person you’ve come to visit.”

Ethan inhaled sharply. He didn’t dare try using his old override code. He wasn’t sure which result would anger him more, the code working or failing. 

* * *

**Follow the operator’s instructions, go to CHAPTER 41  
Try the override code, go to CHAPTER 49**


	43. Chapter 43

“Excuse me, sorry.” Ethan abandoned Afon there at the table. He worked his way through the crowd toward the dance floor. 

At close proximity the anarcho airpunk blasting from the sound system was nearly deafening. Ethan shouted  _ excuse me _ and  _ sorry, coming through _ at people who couldn’t hear him. Polite shoving worked best, although he was reluctant to push too hard. The whole crowd might start and turn the slow-grinding dancing into a frenzy of mock violence. 

Ethan wedged around two girls wrapped around each other and narrowly avoided a young man’s enthusiastic efforts at securing a body to bounce against. He reached Sacha at last and found the space around him occupied, that quiet friend of his everywhere all over him. 

* * *

**Pull Aleks off Sacha, go to CHAPTER 6**

**Leave for home, go to CHAPTER 61**


	45. Chapter 45

Ethan flinched a decorum of space between them. He took a step back to create more space, enough to let in reason and logic and all those hundred small excuses just why he shouldn’t be here, doing this. 

Jules’ hand fell from his arm. His chin lifted some, a sure sign he was collecting his wounded pride from the rejection. “Suit yourself,” he said, short and crisp like a late autumn night.

Ethan collected the jacket off the bed along with his tattered dignity. “I should be going.” 

Jules’ tone slid into full-on icy chill. “Yes. You should.” Jules strode for the bedroom door. “See yourself out.”

After Jules left, Ethan took a moment to further compose himself. He waited for the tantalizing rush of pulse in his ears to fade, for his breathing to slow. Whatever had possessed him to come here in the first place? Refusing Jules had always been difficult for him, that was the whole reason he’d blocked his number in the first place. 

Ethan found the hallway and study both bereft of any sign of Jules. Wherever he’d gone to hide and lick his wounds, it wasn’t anywhere Ethan could find him. Ethan snagged the tap-tech charger off the desk in the study and made his quick escape before that status quo could change. Last thing he needed was another encounter with Jules that evening. 

* * *

**Leave, go to CHAPTER 28**


	46. Chapter 46

Ethan resolutely turned his attention from the dance floor. There was no point in stressing about what Sacha did when he wasn’t watching. What might happen would happen, regardless of his involvement. 

“Your sister,” he said to Afon, “is she older than you?”

Afon nodded. “Yeah! Couple years older. She raised me, pretty much, after our parents --”

A young man crashed into their table, quite literally. Ethan couldn’t say for sure where he came from, just that one moment they were chatting amicably and the next was an exploding chaos of empty bottles and shouting. Afon yelped and leapt to his feet, but Ethan could only sit there in statue-shocked stillness. Regularly patrons near them edged away with sideways looks and hidden laughter. 

The young man at the center of the disaster rebounded off the table and gained his feet. Matryoshka bottles wobbled and toppled from their booth to the floor where they either rolled or shattered. The floor already had a healthy coating of broken glass amidst the accumulated debris, so this little outburst of violence didn’t seem too out of the ordinary. What did strike Ethan as unusual was the way the young man stood there, breathless, chest heaving, a wild-eyed stare flicking rapidly between them. 

“Where’s this?” The young man broke from his stare to look around at the surrounding riot of hedonism. He wore unusual work coveralls of a sleek, shiny white material accented with red paneling at the shoulders and hips. Not quite colonial, not immediately identifiable as modded terran stock either, his skin was a lush cinnamon tone. An ombre bob of silk-fine tresses framed a pretty, angular face. 

Afon gaped at the stranger with just as much perplexity as Ethan felt. “Are -- are you okay?” He half-rose from the booth with a helping hand out and lifted. 

The strange young man grasped the offered hand. “Helios! I’ve been looking everywhere for you, thank goodness you’re here.”

* * *

**Make your excuses and leave to find Sacha, go to CHAPTER 43**

**Ask what’s going on, go to CHAPTER 35**


	47. Chapter 47

Ethan’s entire dorm room could fit in the foyer of Jules’ place with room to spare. A sweeping floor rug coated the luxurious marble floor, and a sparkling crystal chandelier tossed fragments of light in all directions. After so many evenings spent slumming with Sacha, the sheer audacity of such a casually opulent home struck Ethan as oddly crass. 

Jules drifted over to an ivory-inlay sideboard where a bottle of white wine sat chilling in a gold ice bucket. He poured a refill on his own glass before turning to look at Ethan. “Care for some? It’s imported, don’t worry. I wouldn’t dare serve you the fermented piss water the locals drink. This particular vintage comes from a delightful little chateau in I forget where.” Jules paused for a thoughtful sip. “Condrieu, perhaps. Regardless, it’s better than whatever else you’ve been drinking lately, I’m sure.”

* * *

**Accept a glass of wine, go to CHAPTER 2**

**Refuse the wine, go to CHAPTER 9**


	48. Chapter 48

Their lips met with soft hesitance, whisper-shy and wanting. Jules tasted sweet, rich and flavored from the wine, and Ethan drank him in with eager thirst. Their bodies fit together too well, old memories betraying the ease in which Ethan took Jules into his arms. 

Jules cupped Ethan’s face with a soft, smooth-skinned palm absent a single rough callus. He was singularly and utterly unaccustomed to any form of physical labor beyond opening wine bottles, toting shopping bags, and brushing his hair into a golden shine. Ethan marveled not for the first time at how Jules’ hair flowed like silk through his fingers. 

Only when the edge of the bed hit against his knees was Ethan aware they’d been moving. He folded into sitting and Jules pursued him, straddling over his lap with strong, slender thighs. Everything about this was a terrible idea, but Ethan could never refuse Jules anything for long. It’d been the primary motivating factor in their breakup, the reason he’d blocked his number in the first place. 

Jules pushed him down into the bed and swayed over him, inescapable as the tide. He worked open the buttons on his shirt with quick, nimble fingers and then slipped free of the fabric. His chest was sleekly muscled expanse of creamy pale perfect dotted by round, pink nipples. Truly a supreme specimen of Earth’s finest genetic mods. 

“Jules,” Ethan breathed, awe-struck. As if he could have possibly forgotten just how beautiful of a man he was. Ethan struggled free of his coat. Jules reached to help, and together they fought free of such pesky cloth obstacles. 

Ethan marveled anew at each revelation of Jules’ bare skin. He kissed soft junctures, hidden planes and musky heat. He rubbed and caressed every inch amid breathless desire, for long enough that Jules grew flushed and impatient, moans whining from him in pretty crescendo. He squirmed free of Ethan’s roving attentions and flailed a hand at the nightstand. 

Jules nearly knocked over the bedside lamp before succeeding in pulling the nightstand drawer open. From within he withdrew a slender tube. “Me or you?” he asked. “I’ve forgotten whose turn it is.”

* * *

**Ethan tops, go to CHAPTER 14**

**Jules tops, go to CHAPTER 10**


	49. Chapter 49

Ethan approached the exterior panel and punched in the security override code Jules had given him, several months prior to the relationship ending. The panel flashed red as the operator toned out a rejection. Warning text scrolled along the bottom of the panel against potential lockout. At least Jules hadn’t been so lack with security to leave guest codes activated. 

The operator persisted with polite mechanical determination. “Please state the name of the person you’ve come to visit.”

* * *

**Follow the operator’s instructions, go to CHAPTER 41**

**Forget about the charger and leave, go to CHAPTER 54**


	50. Chapter 50

Ethan turned his attention back to Afon. “Hmm? Oh. We met here, at the regularly.”

Afon’s head tipped to the side slightly. “Do you … live around here?”

Ethan imagined if he did, he’d be just about the only terran to brave it. Only an especially desperate lack of clear thinking had led him this deep into a lower income res sector in the first place. If the regularly he’d chosen hadn’t been so near the transit hub, Ethan might never have made it back out alive. 

“No, I live in one of the campus dorms.” 

Relief splattered over Afon’s face. “Oh, good. That’s good. I’ve never been to Earth. My sister went once, on a work trip. She’s a chemical engineer specializing in compost sciences.”

“Your sister who’s helping you study for the entrance exams? She must be very smart,” Ethan said. 

Afon beamed with a smile that lit up his whole face. “Yeah, she is!”

Ethan smiled in return before taking a long drink from his bottle of beer. Unwitting his attention was pulled once more to the dance floor. He could no longer see Sacha, at least not at an easy glance. For all he knew, Sacha and that oddly quiet friend of his were entangled in just as much of a grinding dance performance as the night he met Sacha. The thought sent waves of dark, ugly jealousy through Ethan. 

* * *

**Keep talking to Afon, go to CHAPTER 46**

**Leave to find Sacha, go to CHAPTER 43**


	51. Chapter 51

Ethan met the seeking hunger of Sacha’s lips with wanton eagerness. His hands clutched to Sacha’s muscled forearms. When Sacha shifted he followed, spilling out of the booth with barely a pause between kisses to accommodate. 

Sacha led him through the crowd to the dense pack of people swaying and grinding to the driving rhythm of the synth turntablist’s efforts. Ethan’s heart beat wildly in his chest. He curled his hand tight around Sacha’s. Once wedged somewhere near the center of the crowd, Sacha caged him close and began to flow and bump in time with the music. 

* * *

**Continue to dance, CHAPTER 36**


	52. Chapter 52

Ethan drew in a slow breath. “Sure.” He turned slightly and ran a hand over Jules’ arm. “For tonight.”

Jules dared to lift up his gaze. A smile curved his lips, almost shy at first, and then spreading as he gained confidence. He pushed up from the bed and stretched with a satisfied hum. “Goodness, but we’ve made a mess of things. Take yourself a shower while I get this bundled up for the wash, hm?”

“All right.” Ethan slipped from the bed. He found the way to the connected master bathroom easily enough. Brilliantly white counter tops and fixtures showed not a single hint of grime anywhere thanks to the cleaning service Jules employed. The whole room smelled faintly of expensive scents beneath a patina of fresh-scrubbed cleanliness. 

Fluffy white towels with delicate gold-thread monogramming offered themselves up for use, and Ethan snagged one out of the cabinet to hang beside the expansive five-headed shower stall. A ridiculous number of spray settings presented themselves to him as he started to wrench open the multiple controlling faucets. 

Ethan sniffed at the bottled shampoo already in the shower. He set it back on the inset shelf rather than lather some into his hair, though. The fragrance reminded him too strongly of Jules to use on himself. He washed his body quickly and had just hopped out when Jules entered the bathroom. 

“Nice, isn’t it?” Jules asked. “I just had the shower upgraded. “The rain forest setting is my favorite.”

“It’s nice,” Ethan agreed. He rubbed the towel through his hair to help it dry. 

“Help yourself to whatever you’d like out of my closet.” Jules gestured. “If you’re prefer something comfortable to wear.”

Ethan nearly countered that what he’d been wearing originally was comfortable enough, but he didn’t especially want to invite Jules’ opinion on his fashion choices. Nothing good ever came of it. “Thanks,” he said instead. 

Only the cleaning service’s diligent efforts kept Jules’ closet from being a wrecked mess, Ethan knew. Even just that day’s use had spread rejected clothing items into haphazard piles over the floor. He picked up one of the tossed aside shirts and slipped into it. Exquisitely silk-fine polymer thread slid over his skin like a whisper. He found an equally lush pair of lounge pants to pair with it. 

Once Jules was out of the shower, he dressed into a set of small, thigh-revealing shorts and a baggy cashmere sweater. “Are you hungry?” Jules asked. “I have some cheese and crackers that would pair excellently with this wine.”

“Sure,” Ethan said. What was one more indulgence? Though he wouldn’t dare admit it aloud to Jules, he did sometimes miss the finer things in life.

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 44**


	53. Chapter 53

“I think it’s interesting,” Ethan said. “Efficient repurposing of consumption goods is important to the survival of the colonies. There’s a limit to how much new material can be produced here or brought over from Earth.”

Sacha scoffed. “Egghead nonsense, if you ask me. I’m not having part of it. Come on, Aleks.” He nudged Ethan out of the curved booth. They shuffled and repositioned so that Sacha and his silent friend could depart for the rolling and flowing crush of dancers near the synth turntablist’s booth. Ethan watched them go with a twinge of regret. He’d come here tonight to spend time with Sacha, not ignore him like this. 

* * *

**Follow Sacha and Aleks, go to CHAPTER 43**

**Stay to talk with Afon, go to CHAPTER 23**


	54. Chapter 54

“Forget this,” Ethan said. “I’ll just buy a new charger.” Sure, he lived on fixed and meager means compared to terran standards, but Sacha knew how to find things on the black market for significantly less than the legitimate market prices for imported technology. Buying a new charger, even at full price, was the better alternative than giving Jules anymore of his time. 

On the walk back to the APM stop, Ethan pulled out his phone. He’d long decided to be done with Jules -- wasn’t that why his number had been blocked in the first place? Ethan never should have taken the bait. For all he knew, Jules had been lying about finding the charger. He might have bought a charger, brand new, with the intent of passing it off as a lost and found item. 

The detour into Jules’ res sector hadn’t cost him too much time, Ethan realized. Enough of the evening still remained to meet up with Sacha, although it was getting a bit late to get started. Maybe going home and preparing for class tomorrow was the more prudent choice. 

* * *

**Meet with Sacha for drinks, go to CHAPTER 13**

**Return home to sleep, go to CHAPTER 33**


	55. Chapter 55

Ethan turned aside to let Sacha’s kiss fall into his cheek. He scooted closer to Sacha at the same time, to lessen the rejection. “Sorry I’m late, I had to take the tram.”

“S’always fucking late, dunno why you even bother. Rich boy like you can’t take a cab?” Sacha sneered as he settled into the booth. His arm went across Ethan’s shoulders. 

“Set-dets are less efficient than rapid transit.” Ethan surveyed the clutter of empty, slender blue bottles and short, squat shot glasses spread across the table. “If I’m going to design public infrastructure I might as well acquaint myself with it.”

“Sure, whatever.” Sacha raised up a hand to gesture at one of the servers for another round. “Babe, have you met my friends? This is Aleks and that’s Afon.”

“Hello,” Ethan said. The two introduced were colonial, dark-eyed and dark-haired, one smiling and leaned forward, one sullen and slouched back. Both wore dark work coveralls with high-vis highlighting, same as Sacha wore beneath his jacket. 

“Hello!” the smiling one, Afon, said. He tried and failed to be subtle about skimming his gaze over Ethan, head to toe. “Sacha said you were a student.”

“Yes, that’s right, I’m studying at the institute.” Ethan watched as a tall woman towering in heeled pleather boots arrived at their table. She set down a bundle of bottles and a line of shot glasses, one for each of them. 

“Oh, I want to go there” said Afon. “My sister’s been helping me studying for the entrance exam.”

“Good luck to you, then!” Ethan smiled encouragingly at the young colonial. Most of the students attending the Martian Scientific Institute were terrans, cloistered into dorms and bustled around in set-dets to avoid the local population of the outpost. Still, it was always nice to see a colonial show ambition. 

Sacha lifted up one of the shot glasses. “Sure, I’ll drink to that. Poyekhali!”

“Poyekhali,” Ethan echoed. He lifted the glass but hesitated, remembering the last time he’d drunk colonial vodka. 

* * *

**Drink the shot, go to CHAPTER 30**

**Take a small sip, go to CHAPTER 34**


	56. Chapter 56

“That’s a - a really great offer,” Ethan said. “Thank you, really. But I can’t accept. My studies already take up too much of my time. I don’t think I’d be able to handle T.A. work next term.”

“A pity,” Keeler said. His voice seemed cooler somehow, despite the same pleasant smile still hinting a curl at the corner of his mouth. “Let me know before next week if you change your mind. The offer -- and my office door -- is always open.”

Ethan nodded, feeling unsure of the situation in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. “I will, thank you.” He backed away from Keeler slowly and then turned with the intent to leave. He made it as far as the door before the frantic little voice second-guessing his decision became too loud to ignore. 

* * *

**Turn back and agree, go to CHAPTER 4**

**Leave, go to CHAPTER 29**


	57. Chapter 57

Ethan drew in a slow breath. He tried to soften the blow even though he suspected it wouldn’t matter. “No, I can’t. I have class tomorrow.”

Jules pushed upright. Obvious hurt flashed over his expression before he smoothed it into a haughty mask. “That’s tomorrow. I’m asking about tonight.”

Ethan sat up in the bed as well. “I can’t,” he repeated. 

Suspicion and scorn narrowed Jules’ pretty blue-green eyes. “You’ve met someone,” he accused. “You desperate slut, you’ve met someone.” 

Irritation snapped his resolve to do this gently. “Yeah. I have. Someone who’s not you. I dumped you, Jules, remember? It’s over. Don’t try to make this something it’s not.”

“Get out.” Jules grabbed the pink-frilled throw pillow from the bed and threw it at him. “Get out!”

“Gladly!” Ethan extricated himself from Jules’ bed. He snatched at his clothes, but Jules pelted him with another pillow. 

“Leave! Go! I never want to see you again!” Jules raged. 

Ethan lifted an arm to block the harmless pillow onslaught. “Cut it out.”

“Thanks for the reminder why I never should have dated you, Ethan.” Jules had run out of upholstered ammunition, so he could only fling insults and hurt instead. He tossed his head with a gleaming wet glare. “You’re lousy in bed. I’ve had yawns more satisfying than you.”

Ethan untangled his underwear from his pants and slipped into it. He ignored Jules and continued getting dressed. 

Predictably, this only stoked the flames of Jules’ fiery wrath. He scrambled from the bed and snatched Ethan’s coat up from the floor. 

“Stop it.” Ethan hopped awkwardly into pursuit as Jules headed for the bedroom door with his coat. He hastily fastened his pants to make walking easier. “Give that back.”

Jules carried the coat to the end of the hall and flung it out into the living room. “If I never see you again it’ll be too soon, Ethan Hallewell! I hope your dick rots off in your sleep.”

Ethan stormed past him to collect the coat along with his shredded dignity. It was only when he was halfway back to his dorm that he remembered the stupid charger, the whole reason he’d gone to Jules’ place, but nothing could make him turn back for it. He just wanted to go home and forget about this entire disappointing evening. 

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 59**


	58. Chapter 58

Ethan quietly gathered his belongings and made it as far as the door before realizing just what a coward he was being. Keeler might not recognize his face, but it wouldn’t take much to track him by name. If he dodged out of this after-class meeting, Keeler might dock him marks. He might look up Ethan’s student record and contact him through email, and then what would Ethan’s excuse be? Reluctantly Ethan turned around and crept up on Keeler and his teaching assistant. 

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 18**


	59. Chapter 59

Ethan woke late and readied for the day with frantic haste. Although his professor seemed like an amiable fellow, Ethan did not want to be late. Professor Keeler was known to make tardy students stand beside the blackboard for the entire lecture, and Ethan could not handle that kind of public humiliation. 

“Bye, Newton! See you after class,” he said. The iguana turned his head some and continually methodically eating the freshly shredded greens Ethan had put into his food bowl. 

Ethan checked the time as he walked across campus and quickened his steps. Even with the threat of being late safely passed, he wanted to arrive early enough for a good seat. He preferred to sit in the middle and toward the front, in the second row if possible. The lecture hall was large enough that no one sat in the front row except the T.A., and Ethan was not prepared to stand out quite that much. 

His chosen seat was empty when Ethan arrived, so he slid into it and powered on his tap-tech. Keeler hadn’t even yet arrived, but the T.A. sat at the far end of the front row. He was a painfully shy young man who never spoke to anyone, and Ethan had forgotten his name almost as soon as Keeler gave it. A handful of other students were scattered around the lecture hall with more streaming in by the second. 

Promptly at five minutes before class was scheduled to begin, the professor arrived. Keeler was terran, obviously, with a thick white-gold braid that hung over his shoulder. Despite his soft manner of speaking, he commanded the room with well-practiced eased. His depth and breadth of knowledge was unparalleled. Abel admired him greatly, in fact. This was the third class of his he’d taken, and Abel intended to encourage in the continuing advanced study offered the following term. 

“Good morning, everyone.” Keeler stepped up to the podium and picked up the stylus resting there. “I know you’re likely anxious to receive the exam results. Bazin will be handing those out at the end, however, so please give me your full attention until then. Today we will continuing our discussion of the dielectric strength of various polymer compounds.” 

With the stylus, Keeler began drawing a diagram on the podium tap-tech that was cast to the large screen behind him. The same drawing appeared on the screen of Ethan’s tap-tech for him annotate and markup as needed. 

For the remainder of the lecture, Ethan paid close attention to everything Keeler presented. Keeler stopped with five minutes to spare, and the T.A. was sent around the room to distribute their marked exams. Ethan waited eagerly for his. When he received it, though, his gaze went immediately to Keeler’s note at the top.  _ Please stay to see me after class. _

His heart sank. He’d felt shaky taking the test, but surely he hadn’t done so poorly as to need remedial attention. Ethan dropped his gaze to the bottom of the sheet. Nearly full marks, he just had a partial deduction for one spelling error. His heart soared up from the depths of despair. Perhaps Keeler simply wanted to congratulate him. And then, swiftly, Ethan’s heart dropped into the floor. Surely Keeler didn’t suspect him of cheating or anything. 

“Thank you for your attention today. I will see you next week,” Keeler said. “You’re dismissed.”

The respectful hush of the room broke into chattering, devices chiming, bags being zipped and unzipped, students getting up and leaving. Ethan sat rooted in place. Keeler wasn’t even looking at him -- he was standing next to the T.A. speaking too quietly as to be heard. Was it possible Keeler had written that on his exam not even knowing what he looked like? Ethan considered for a cowardly moment simply slipping out the door rather than approaching the professor. 

* * *

**Approach Keeler, go to CHAPTER 18**

**Sneak out of class, go to CHAPTER 58**


	60. Chapter 60

Ethan ran his hand over Sacha’s arm. “We can have our own fun,” he suggested. “Me and you.”

Sacha huffed out an irritated breath. “Sure. Better than watching these two lovesick idiots, yeah?” He arranged his cock into his jeans and zipped them shut. His arm swung over Ethan’s shoulders. He announced like it’d been his idea to begin with, “Let’s go, sweetheart.”

“Sorry!” Afon called. “Nice to meet you, Etha--oohhh…!” He broke off into an eager moan. The angle of their bodies concealed just exactly what Aleks had done to elicit such a response. 

Sacha led him out of the alley to the front of the building. They began walking not toward the transit hub like Ethan expected but deeper into the res sector to side streets and walkpaths that Ethan would have never dared to explore by himself.

Sacha slowed as they reached the front entrance to a crumbling apartment block. Security grates covered the first two stories worth of windows, and the front door was a formidable monstrosity of cold black metal wretchedly dented. Graffiti defaced almost every surface in a variety of tags, strange symbols, profanity, and crude drawings. A rather prominent and disturbingly artistic penis pointed directly to the door. 

“Is this… where you live?” Ethan asked. He tried to clear his apprehension from the question.

Sacha just grinned. “Home sweet home,” he agreed. “What do you say, sweetheart? Wanna come up?”

* * *

**Go home with Sacha, CHAPTER 3**

**Leave, CHAPTER 25**


	61. Chapter 61

The time had grown late enough that Ethan could make his excuses to leave, and so he did. He had lecture the next day, essays and assignments that needed his attention, and maybe the truth was he just didn’t belong here and knew it, even if he didn’t precisely want to admit it. 

Leaving the regularly, Ethan chose to wait for the mover rather than risk the short walk back to the transit hub this deep in the night. Not with the way he stood out, not with desperate and hungry eyes watching him from shadowed corners and dark alleys. Some of the more naive terran students found themselves lured out of the safe zone immediately surrounding the campus institute, to great misfortune. Every so often those students weren’t seen again, and the exact reason why remained clouded in bureaucratic mystery. 

Ethan arrived home exhausted and ready for bed. He did little more than the essentials to prepare before crawling between the covers. A slight tinny ring in his ears echoed of the night’s vibrant activities and lulled him quickly into sleep. 

* * *

**Go to CHAPTER 59**


End file.
